Skip to content

Where are you from?

Choose your province and we will tell you how the deputies and senators you elected vote, one by one.

 

We remember it in this browser. If you create an account, we keep it there.
Sign in

Type a law, a topic, a person or a province.

What it is

Common rules for all public grants and subsidies in Spain

BOE step 7 of 7 · Passed

It is a government bill. Introduced by the Government. It was introduced on 27 June 2003. Introduced by: Gobierno.

Official title: Government bill for the General Subsidies Law.

Follow this law

Source: Congreso de los Diputados, file 121/000163· updated 11 Nov

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

  1. The law defines what a subsidy is: public money given without direct compensation, to meet an objective, carry out a project or perform an activity of public utility or social interest.
  2. Social Security benefits and pensions, tax benefits, official credit and prizes not applied for in advance, among other cases, are outside the scope of the law.
  3. As a general rule, grants are awarded through competitive procedures: applications are compared and the best rated ones are awarded based on criteria set in advance. There are exceptional cases of direct award.
  4. Before awarding a grant, its governing rules must be approved and published, and the call for applications must state the budget, requirements, deadlines and evaluation criteria.
  5. Beneficiaries must justify how they used the funds, keep proper accounts, submit to checks and publicize the public origin of the money. If they fail, they may have to return the grant.
  6. The grant must be repaid when there are grounds for clawback, such as providing false information, failing to meet the objective or not justifying expenses. The Administration's right to demand repayment expires after four years.
  7. The Intervención General de la Administración del Estado carries out financial control of grants, and beneficiaries, collaborating entities and third parties must cooperate by providing documents and access.
  8. The law classifies offenses as minor, serious or very serious, with fines from €75 to €6,000 for minor ones and proportional fines for serious and very serious ones, which may add bans of up to five years on receiving aid or contracting with the Administration.

Who it affects

  • Individuals and businesses that apply for or receive public grants: They must meet requirements, justify expenses and submit to checks; if they fail, they may repay the money and face penalties.
  • Collaborating entities that distribute public funds: They must sign an agreement with the Administration and take on duties of delivery, verification and justification.
  • Public administrations (State, autonomous communities and local entities): They must follow common procedures for awarding, publicity, repayment and control.
  • Directors and partners of beneficiary companies: They may be subsidiarily or jointly liable for repayment and penalties.

Words worth knowing

Concurrencia competitiva (competitive procedure)
A procedure where all applications are compared and grants go to the best rated ones under criteria set in advance.
Bases reguladoras (governing rules)
The rules for each grant: who can apply, how, with what requirements and how applications are rated.
Reintegro (clawback)
The duty to return public money received when the grant conditions were not met.
Entidad colaboradora (collaborating entity)
An entity acting on behalf of the Administration to deliver and distribute funds to beneficiaries.
Justificación (justification)
Submitting invoices and documents proving the money was spent as planned.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries

Where it stands

How far did it get?

It took 7 of 7 steps. It reached BOE, and today it is passed.

  1. Introduced27 June 2003Someone registers the text in the Congreso.
  2. Admitted30 June 2003The Bureau of the Congreso accepts it and, for a members’ bill, the plenary decides whether to consider it.
  3. Amendments1 July 2003Groups propose changes.
  4. Committee25 July 2003A committee goes through the text in detail.
  5. Plenary16 September 2003All 350 deputies vote.
  6. Senate25 September 2003The Senate can pass it, amend it or veto it.
  7. BOE29 October 2003It is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and comes into force.
See the 11 official steps on a timeline
Jun 2003Jul 2003Aug 2003Sept 200311. 27 June 2003: Presentación22. 30 June 2003: Comisión de Economía y Hacienda Publicación desde 30/06/2003 hasta 01/07/200333. 30 June 2003: Calificación44. 1 July 2003: Comisión de Economía y Hacienda Enmiendas desde 01/07/2003 hasta 06/09/200355. 15 July 2003: Comisión de Economía y Hacienda Mesa - Calificación desde 15/07/2003 hasta 25/07/200366. 25 July 2003: Comisión de Economía y Hacienda Debate de totalidad desde 25/07/2003 hasta 28/07/200377. 6 September 2003: Comisión de Economía y Hacienda Informe desde 06/09/2003 hasta 10/09/200388. 10 September 2003: Comisión de Economía y Hacienda Dictamen desde 10/09/2003 hasta 16/09/200399. 16 September 2003: Pleno Aprobación desde 16/09/2003 hasta 25/09/20031010. 25 September 2003: Senado desde 25/09/2003 hasta 29/10/20031111. 29 October 2003: Concluido - (Aprobado con modificaciones) desde 29/10/2003 hasta 25/11/2003

Was there a plenary vote?

We have no plenary vote linked to this law in the Congreso’s data.

What happens next

What happens now?

It is law, or will be once published in the BOE. It comes into force on the date its own text sets.

Published in the BOE: Law 38/2003, of 17 November, General Subsidies Law.

Sources

Where does all this come from?

  • The data comes from the open files of the Congreso, the Senate and the BOE, unaltered.
  • Each deputy’s province is the one of their seat on the day of the vote.
  • We only say “passed” or “rejected” when the majority needed is certain; otherwise we say which side had more votes.

Read the full method · Report an error